The Foster Kid
by Marriella Bullet
Summary: Luke is a thirteen year old foster kid. He's been told all his life that he's a lost cause and he beleives it. Can things change for Luke? LukeVader story. R&R. Complete.
1. Prologue

**The Foster Kid**

_**A Luke/Vader Star Wars Fiction**_

**Summery: Luke is a thirteen year old foster kid who doesn't think anyone cares. Will anyone ever be able to change him?**

**A/N: I've entertained this idea for a while, and I got so excited that I worked really hard to finish up most of my stories so I'd be free to go for this one. I'm really excited about it and I hope you all enjoy it!**

**Disclaimer: Well of course Star Wars and everything that exists there doesn't belong to me, even though I've begged George Lucas to let me have Luke Skywalker… he still won't let me have even him.**

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**Prologue**

In the crowded streets of Coruscaunt, one dejected figure could barely be seen going this way and that through the crowds, though barely noticing their presence. He made his way through the streets too lost in thought to think about where he was going.

The blonde thirteen-year-old continued looking at his feet as he thought. He didn't have enough pride to look up or even straight ahead. He'd given up a long time ago. After all, who cared about a worthless foster kid? No one.

A long time ago, back when he'd been very little, his aunt and uncle (he couldn't remember their names) had given him to the Empire's Foster Homing Facility. They were doing so poorly on Tatooine with the harvests and everything that they didn't have enough money to take care of him. So ever since then, he'd been moved from planet to planet, home to home, family to family. No one ever kept him for more than a few weeks. They said he was a lost cause…

They were probably right.

He had just run away from his last foster home. Normally, he would just wait for them to send him back, but this family had been unbearable.

It hadn't even been a family actually… just a man his sister. The sister was always drunk and all she did was order him around. (That was probably why they took him into custody.) And her brother was even worse. Whenever he got mad, he would beat "that foster kid" up and blame whatever his problem was on him.

Here in the streets, he was far away from those two, and he wasn't planning on going back to the Foster Homing Facility either. He couldn't stand being sent to yet another home where he would be unwanted yet again.

No one would notice that he was missing. In fact, he would be willing to bet that no one would care if he decided to die…

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**A/N: PLEASE REVIEW!!!**

**I can't promise fast updating. School starts this Monday and I'll be busy doing stupid school work and all that stuff that we all hate so darn much. Summer's just gone by so fast this year! I hope to have chapter one written and posted soon but I'm not making any promises.**


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey, guys! Thanks for the reviews. I'm updating one last time before I go to school today. I'm going to be a freshman. (Oh isn't that exciting?) Wish me luck. And pray for me if you would. I'll admit, I'm sorta nervous. This is my first time going to a public school. I hope you enjoy the chapter!**

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**Chapter One**

The unbearable finally caused Luke to look up in search of a store or restaurant where he could find something to eat. He was starving. He hadn't eaten anything for so long. Back at his latest foster home, they hadn't bothered to feed him and he had been too afraid to go into the kitchen in search of food himself, because the lady or her brother might have beat him up or something, and he'd already had far too much of that.

For some reason, he couldn't find any places where he could possibly find food. Luke feared that if he didn't get food soon, he would collapse on the sidewalk and die. That was how hungry he was.

Okay, so there were no food stores or restaurants. Next place to look would be someone's home. Luke had never stolen before, and he was quite afraid to now. But suddenly a new wave of starvation overcame him and overcame is conscience. He needed food fast.

He began to walk a little faster in search of a house or something. Some place that would have a kitchen. Up ahead, he saw a few apartment buildings. He decided to try there.

He had unknowingly come to the higher places in Coruscaunt where the rich people and senators lived. He could even see the very top of the Emperor's palace far off in the distance.

Luke came to the entrance of the first apartment building and looked up. The higher apartments had small, private landing pads where the owners could park their speeders. That was the only way to enter one of the apartments. If he tried to go in through the doors inside the building, he knew that they would be locked and he wouldn't be able to get inside.

Luke went to the side of the building and began climbing up the side, holding on to the decorative carvings. He had to climb a few floors up before he came to the landing pads. He glanced down to see how high up he was… and nearly lost his balance at the sight of the distance he would fall if he accidentally lost his footing.

Luke took in a few deep breaths and let them out slowly. It would be a painful death if he fell…

After taking a few moments to build up his courage, he continued. When he finally came to the first landing pad, he carefully pulled his right hand away from the side of the building and reached out for the floor of the landing pad. After getting a good grasp on it, he let go with his left hand, and pulled his feet away from the side. There, he dangled in the air for a few frightening seconds.

As quickly as he could, he swung his body up and used what muscles he had to bring his body up on the edge of the landing platform. He lay there for a while, breathing hard. When he recovered, he stood up cautiously, making sure that no one was home before he advanced into the house.

He was amazed at the size of the apartment. It turned out having two stories; there were spacious stairs leading up to the second floor of the apartment. But Luke wasn't concerned about that. All he wanted was to find food. He went to the right and to the back of the apartment where he guessed the kitchen would be. Luke had lived in so many homes; he knew the general arrangement of things.

Once inside the kitchen, Luke attacked the freezer unit where all the food was. He smiled for the first time in he didn't know how long, and began eating anything he saw. Luke was so hungry that he didn't care what he ate; everything tasted good to him.

The sudden noise of a speeder being landed on the landing pad outside caused Luke to freeze on the spot. When he heard the sound of the speeder doors being opened, and the voices, he panicked and looked around for a place to hide.

Luke dropped the food he had been holding, ran to the back of the kitchen and hid in the only place there was to hide: under the kitchen table.

His breathing sounded loud to him and he tried to breathe softer so they wouldn't hear him.

The voices got louder as the owners of the apartment came closer. Luke cringed when he saw the mess he had made on the floor of the kitchen. They would surely know that someone had been there.

For a second, Luke hoped that they wouldn't come into the kitchen, but that hope was short lived. The people: a man and woman, most probably married, came into the kitchen and stopped when they saw the mess Luke had made.

"Japhonan, you didn't by any chance make this mess, did you?" the woman said. She had blondish, orange hair and hazel eyes. Her dress was white with brown and gold embroideries. Even Luke could tell that she was an important lady. Most likely, she was a senator.

Her husband, Japhonan, had a serious expression on his face. "I know _I_ didn't." Japhonan had slick, black hair in contrast to his wife's lighter shaded hair. He wore navy blue pants, a lighter blue shirt and a dark blue cape made out of satin. He looked like a senator too.

Luke watched as the man and lady looked cautiously around the room. Luke squeezed his eyes shut and prayed desperately that they wouldn't see him.

"Japhonan, look!"

Luke opened his eyes just in time to see the man move aside one of the chairs and grab Luke by the shirt and pull him out from under the table. Luke kicked him and pushed his elbow into the man's stomach but he didn't let go. He pulled Luke out of the kitchen into the living room.

When Luke saw the landing pad that the living room came out onto, he tried even harder to get away so that he could possibly get to the landing pad and find some way of escape. But instead the man pulled him to a closet and threw him in. Luke tried to get up, but wasn't fast enough. The closet door was closed and when he tried to open it, he found that it was locked.

…

Japhonan turned to his wife. "Lizzian, call the authorities."

"Right away."

Japhonan heard the boy pounding against the closet door in an attempt to break it open. It would be useless. The boy was so small; he had now way of getting out.

"No!" he heard the muffled sound of the boy's voice from inside the closet as he figured out that he couldn't break it open.

Japhonan walked away from the closet to find Lizzian. He felt sorry for the boy.

…

Luke kicked the door one last time for good measure, then sat down at the back of the small closet. It was dark and there were no lights to turn on. A small whimper escaped his lips as he hugged his knees to his chest. He didn't know what was going to happen. He would probably be sent back to the Foster Homing Facility. Or maybe prison for breaking into someone else's house.

Luke sighed sadly. His life was so worthless. Why couldn't he just die? Then at least he wouldn't be a bother to people. Luke buried his head in his arms and cried.

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**A/N: Aww… so sad. Poor little Lukie. PLEASE review you guys!**


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N: Wow guys, I already have so many reviews! Thank you so much. Now that it's the weekend, I can finally update for you guys! Just so you know I've been sick with a cold all week. Actually, I had to come home early from school on Thursday. So pray for me please. I'd like to get better. :D**

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**Chapter Two**

When Lizzian called the authorities and told them the story, they told her to contact either the Imperial Child Care Services or the Foster Homing Facility. She tried the Foster Homing Facility first and they said they would send a few men over right away.

Japhonan couldn't help but be relieved when the FHF men arrived. The boy had gotten so quiet that he had begun to wonder what he was doing.

"Where is the boy?" one of the men said.

"Right this way," Japhonan answered, leading them toward the closet. He unlocked it and revealed the sorriest sight he had ever seen.

The boy had crawled to the back of the tiny closet. His feet were curled up against his upper body with his arms wrapped around his legs. His head, which had been snuggled between his arms at this point, looked up at the sudden noise of the closet opening. His face was tear streaked and sad. His eyes were filled with misery as if he had been through similar experiences such as this.

Japhonan's heart ached when he saw him there. Apparently, Lizzian felt the same way when he heard her give a sad sigh behind him.

All of this happened in a moment. The chief nodded his head and said, "Ah yes, we're familiar with this one."

Two of the four men reached down and pulled the boy to his feet. At that moment, something came to life in the boy and he began thrashing wildly. It was like he _had_ to escape. Of course, the scrawny little youngster was in no way a match for four strong, fully grown men. They easily pulled him to the speeder. The last thing Japhonan saw of the boy was his face looking desperately, and slightly angrily, back.

They put him in the back seat where he was sedated. After that, they started up the speeder and headed off to the Foster Homing Facility.

"Japh," Lizzian said thoughtfully as she came up behind him. "There's more to that boy that meets the eye."

Japhonan nodded. "I know what you mean."

…

Luke didn't have to open his eyes to know where he was. He couldn't explain it… it was just this feeling he would get if he was in a place he had been before. Somehow he _knew_ where he was without trying. And this time, he wished that he _didn't_ know.

He was back at the FHF.

"No…" Luke groaned, holding his hand to his head.

He tried to sit up but then sat back down immediately when his head started throbbing and aching horribly. He groaned again and rubbed his hands in circular motions on the sides of his forehead, trying to get the ache to go away. Eventually it did and he finally sat up all the way to inspect his surroundings.

Of all his years being at the Foster Homing Facility, he'd never been in this room yet. It was a plain square room with no window and no furniture except for the bed that he lay on (which wasn't very soft) and a standard metal chair. In every top corner of the four walls, there were cameras watching him.

Luke had heard of this place. It was the high security room. Before he tried, he knew that there was no possible way he could break out. He would probably stay here until someone else wanted to be his foster parents and…

Luke cut off his train of thought when he realized that anyone seeing him in a high security room wouldn't dream of taking him home with them. Once again, he remembered all the times people had called him a lost cause. They would blame his biological parents for whatever they must have done to cause Luke to be the disaster that he was.

He _was_ a disaster, right? Luke had always assumed it. No one had ever touched him fondly. He couldn't even _remember_ the last time someone had hugged him… a few years ago, maybe? Never had anyone told him that they loved him, or that he mattered to them. It was because he _didn't_ matter to _anyone_. If he did, then he wouldn't be here right now.

Life seemed so meaningless.

A shaky sigh escaped Luke's lips as he realized how utterly pointless he was to the galaxy. He was just one of the millions of children who didn't have a home, didn't have a family… and didn't have anyone to worry about him. Luke couldn't even remember the last time someone had actually called him by his name. He had always been called "that kid" or "that foster kid," nothing remotely close to endearing.

It was his own fault for that. Luke had never told anyone his name. They'd asked for it again and again, but he had refused to tell them. His mouth remained shut and he would ignore them.

What would they do with his name anyway?

Suddenly Luke wondered what would happen if he stopped eating. Would he die? It would take a while but eventually he would. And what would the afterlife be like? Would his biological parents be there? Would they love him? Probably.

Right then and there, Luke decided to stop eating and starve himself to death. At least then, once he was dead, he wouldn't be a bother to people anymore. Even if there _wasn't_ an afterlife, that would mean that there would be peaceful sleep for eternity; and that was better than this.

Much better.

…

Luke was kept in the room all day. At nighttime (which Luke couldn't tell since there were no windows) they brought him some food, but as Luke had promised himself, he didn't eat.

When the lights in the room suddenly dimmed, he realized that he was very sleepy. Luke lay down on his bed and went to sleep.

It was a very restless night for Luke. He tossed and turned uncomfortably and every thirty minutes, he would wake up and have to fall asleep all over again. When the lights in his room got much brighter, Luke woke up and realized that it was morning. He felt very tired, as if he'd only slept for five minutes. But the lights were so bright now that it was hopeless trying to fall back to sleep.

…

Japhonan and Lizzian Marthio made their way to the Foster Homing Facility. Last night they had talked it over and found that they both felt sorry for the boy. They decided that the least they could do was find out a little bit about him and see if they could possibly help.

When their chauffeur landed the speeder, they walked inside the building and went to the administration desk.

"What can I do for you?" the lady at the desk asked. She asked this as if it had been said many times before and she was getting sick of it.

Lizzian spoke. "We want to find out about a boy we caught in our home yesterday. He had blonde hair, blue eyes, and a small frame."

The lady nodded as if suddenly recognizing who she was referring to. "Yeah, I know who you're talking about. If you want to find out about _that_ kid, you gotta go to the third floor to Benro Sanew's office. He's the one who takes care of the trouble-making kids."

"Thank you for your time," Lizzian said politely. She and Japhonan went to the elevator and set it for the third floor.

After inquiring some people, they found Benro Sanew's office. After talking with him, the man said, "Oh, so you are the two whose house he broke into. Sorry, but the information is strictly confidential. Only employees and possible foster parents are allowed to get information on the kids here.

Japhonan looked at Lizzian. She nodded, and he spoke. "Well we _are_ considering taking him into foster care."

At that moment, the man's attitude changed. A grin spread across his face and he stood up and shook hands with them. "Well I'm mighty glad to hear that! It's hard finding a home for that one, you know. Poor kid won't talk to anyone. He's always sent back after one or two weeks."

"Really?" Japhonan asked, curious. "Why is that?"

"He's impossible so they say, and gosh is he…" suddenly Benro realized that he wasn't painting a good picture about the boy, and he had to if he wanted them to take him into foster care. It was so hard getting people to take him in. "But let's not dwell on that. So what would you like to know?"

"What's his name?" Lizzian asked.

"No one knows," Benro answered.

"What do you mean?" Japhonan said.

"Just that. As I said before, the kid won't talk. We've asked him time and again, but he won't say anything. Won't even tell us his name."

"You mean he's never said _anything?_" Lizzian asked. With everything she heard she was getting even more sorry for the boy. Everything about him seemed so sad.

Benro shrugged good-naturedly. "Well, he's yelled a couple times, but other than that, he stays pretty quiet."

"Are we allowed to see him?" Japhonan asked.

Benro lifted his hand up. "Only one at a time. That's the rules."

"That's okay," Lizzian said. "I'll wait out here for you, Japh."

With this settled, Japhonan left Lizzian in the office while Benro led Japhonan through a door that opened up into a small hallway. Benro went to the door directly across from them and unlocked it. Inside, Japhonan saw the boy.

He was sitting on a bed that was centered next to the wall just opposite of the door, with his feet propped up on the bed. The boy looked in his direction when the door was opened, then quickly looked away and stared at his knees.

The door closed behind Japhonan and he walked to where the boy was sitting. He pulled the single chair that he saw in the room, placed it next to the bed, and sat down. The boy remained staring down. His face was hardened with anger, and his blue eyes slightly narrowed when he heard Japhonan speak.

"Hello," Japhonan said good naturedly, giving the boy a smile. "My name is Japhonan Marthio. And you are?"

As he had feared, the boy didn't speak. He pretended like he didn't hear him. Japhonan tried again.

"I'm very sorry about yesterday. But you know, it was quite a shock to see you there in our kitchen."

No response.

Japhonan cleared his throat and decided it was time to try something new. He placed his hand on the boy's shoulder. Quick as lightning, the boy shrugged his hand off. Well, at least he'd gotten him to respond to something he did.

"Look, if you block everything out, it still won't change anything. The galaxy's still out there." Still no response. The boy remained looking sad and angry. "I want to help you, but I can't if you just ignore me."

He hoped that would do it, but again, the boy did nothing. Japhonan sighed and stood up.

"I'm sorry you won't talk to me. I will be back again tomorrow."

After saying this, he turned and walked out of the room. Benro closed the door and locked it again then followed Japhonan back into his office where Lizzian was waiting.

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**A/N: Woo! I wrote another chapter! Continue doing what you're already doing so well and review! I hope this was a satisfactory chapter. I made it a bit longer than the last one cuz I'm just so amazing and all that. Hehe, just kidding. :b**

**Please review!**


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N: As always, thanks for reviewing! Oh, and I know Benro seems very nice, but that's just toward customers. You'll see that in this chapter. And speaking of this chapter, it's gonna be much shorter than the last one, but I think you'll like it.**

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**Chapter Three**

When the couple left, Benro went back to the room where the kid was. He unlocked the door and went in, storming towards the bed.

The kid, obviously seeing that Benro was alone, knew what was coming. He leapt from the bed and tried to ovoid him. But Benro grabbed him by his shoulders and shook him.

"What's the matter wit' you!? Those people are thinking about taking you into foster care! That means more money for me and I'm not gonna let you cost me more dough just because you scared them off by actin' like you're stupid!"

Benro threw him against the near by wall and watched the kid fall to the ground. He made a noise that sounded like a whimper and just sat there, as if hoping Benro was finished and would leave him alone.

Well Benro wasn't finished yet.

With two strides, he got to the kid and grabbed him by the hair, forcing the boy to look at him.

"If you keep actin' like you can't talk –and I know you _can_- then be sure you're gonna regret it for the rest of your worthless life!"

With that, he threw the boy by the hair back to the wall and stormed out of the room.

…

When the door locked again, Luke tried to stand up but realized that he couldn't. His head was too dizzy from that last bang against the wall. He felt blood on his cheek. Luke wiped it off, but more blood came and he gave up.

Luke, knowing that his hair probably looked wild after Benro's attack, brushed his hand through his blonde hair and sighed. Benro always got like that when Luke started causing him problems.

…

The rest of the day, Luke tried to recover from Benro's latest attack. When his head stopped swimming whenever he tried to stand up, Luke made it back to the bed to lie down. His head felt good on the pillow. When the lights when out, he tried to fall asleep, but a slight throbbing in his head left from Benro's beating caused falling asleep to be a bit of a difficulty.

After a while he finally fell asleep.

…

Because of a meeting at the senate, Lizzian couldn't come to the FHF the next day. Japhonan had to come early in the morning because he too had a meeting to get to later that day.

"Mr. Marthio!" Benro said as he stood up from his desk. A smile played across his face. "How nice to be seeing you again, sir. Are you here to possibly take the poor kid into foster care?"

Japhonan held up his hand. "Ha, ha, not yet. I just wish to see him again."

Benro looked slightly disappointed when he heard this but nevertheless, he got his keys and led Japhonan to the room again. When he opened the door, they saw that since it was still early morning, the lights of the room were still dimmed and the boy was still asleep.

"Ah," Benro said. "Perhaps you'd like to come back when he is awake, yes?"

But Japhonan shook his head. "No, no, it's okay. Don't forget to close the door behind me."

Japhonan walked into the room and sat down on the chair next to the bed again. For the first time since Japhonan had seen him, the boy looked peaceful. His body moved up and down with each breath and his face was calm and placid.

…

All of a sudden, the dream turned into a nightmare. The beautiful, green-toped mountain turned into a small rocky ledge. The day grew dark and the only colors he could see were black and red. Down below the dark ledge on which he now stood, a raging lava river flowed and began melting away the base of the ledge. He was going to fall!

…

Japhonan watched as the boy's peaceful presence slowly turned into a troubled sleep. He groaned and turned from side to side. His face was pulled together into a look of searching. It was like he was _looking_ for some way to escape from whatever was haunting him.

On instinct, Japhonan reached out and grabbed the boy's hand which had begun to thrash about pointlessly. Even in his sleep, the boy seemed so aware. He tried to pull his hand back, but Japhonan wouldn't let go. He took the hand closer to him and wrapped both of his hands around it, soothing him as much as he could.

It must have had some affect, because the boy finally calmed down. Japhonan finally withdrew his hands, but the boy's hand wouldn't let go of his, so he kept it there.

…

He had come close to falling in the lava, but then suddenly, out of the sky and angel came and carried him up to the top of the clouds. He angel laid him down on a puffy white cloud and let him sleep. The nightmare had become a dream again.

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**A/N: I warned you this was going to be a short chapter. But Luke has gone through so much; I wanted him to have a little bonding moment with Japh.**

**Oh, and Vader **_**will**_** be coming in the story, I swear. This is a Luke/**_**Vader**_** story, so don't worry, he'll be comin' in soon.**

**Please review!**


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N: I didn't get many reviews on the last chapter. (frowns) Come on guys, I need a little inspiration here, help me out.**

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**Chapter Four**

Japhonan was slightly startled when the lights in the room suddenly lit up signifying that it was morning. He had gotten so used to the dimmed lights that he hadn't even noticed until the lights were turned on.

The boy groaned, apparently woken by the lights. Japhonan withdrew his hand before the boy gained awareness. Japhonan saw the boy blink a few times, then look to the side. It was then that he realized that he wasn't alone and that Japhonan was there. He sat up slowly, glaring at him.

Japhonan smiled. "I'm sorry if I woke you."

Of course the boy didn't speak. He just turned away and pulled himself together after the slight shock he'd just recieved.

A sigh from Japhonan, then, "I came to tell you that I'll be back tomorrow with my wife to take you to our house." This time he got some reaction. The boy turned his head toward him, looking… dare he say horrified? With a mix of question in his expression

Japhonan tried to answer what questions he could find playing across the boy's face. "Yes, we want to take you into foster care."

The boy looked down in a confused state, as if surprised that they were taking him in. He looked confused as if he was trying to figure out why. Japhonan hated for the boy to be confused, but what he hated even more was not knowing his name. It was hard to keep referring to him as "the boy." He decided to try again.

"I… would like to know your name," he said, hinting.

It was no good. The boy's head didn't move, but his eyes did. They found Japhonan's and glared into them as if saying _"I'm not telling anyone so get that idea out of your head right now."_

Japhonan sighed and stood up. "I'll be back tomorrow to take you home."

…

When the man left, Luke allowed himself to relax and try to sort through his storming thoughts.

They wanted to take him into foster care? After Luke had invaded their home and made a mess in their kitchen, they wanted to take care of him? _Why?_ What did he do to make them want to do this? Of course, Luke immediately expected the worst; that they wanted revenge on him for what he had done to their kitchen. But for some reason, he got the feeling that they weren't those kinds of people.

Then why would they want to take him into foster care? It couldn't be because they simply wanted to help him… no one wanted to help _Luke_. He was worthless.

Either way, this was going to be like all the other foster homes. Luke just wished it was over already.

…

Japhonan went to Benro and informed him that he and Lizzian _were_ going to come by tomorrow and pick Luke up. Benro gave Japhonan the fee for taking the boy into foster care, and Japhonan decided to go ahead and pay it ahead of time so he wouldn't have to worry about it tomorrow.

After this, he went on to his meeting. He knew that he'd have to tell Lizzian about the sudden decision he had made. Japhonan didn't know why he'd done it. He'd just had a sudden urge to do it. This boy needed help, attention… need he say love? Yes, he needed all those things, and all Japhonan wanted to do was give it.

…

Lizzian couldn't have been happier about the news. She also felt that they were meant to help the boy.

Then next day after breakfast, they canceled their appointments for that day and went together to the Foster Homing Facility. While their chauffeur drove them to FHF, Lizzian voiced her concern over not knowing the boy's name. It was a touchy subject for both of them. They wanted to be able to call him something, but just giving him a name would be like naming a new pet, and that's not how they wanted the boy to feel.

When the speeder landed, they got out and went directly to Benro's office. He was expecting them and followed them to the boy's room, unlocked the door and opened it.

The boy was sitting on the side of the bed, his elbows rested on his knees and his hands were clenching and unclenching as he thought. With the sound of the door opening, he slowly looked up. His eyes looked miserable beneath the overgrown bangs which Lizzian made a note to herself to have cut.

"Come on, boy," Japhonan said as gently as possible. "We're taking you home now."

_Home. They're not taking me __home_, Luke thought. _I don't have a home_. But he stood up and came to the door. There was no reason to resist. Eventually he'd be made to come anyway, and he decided it was better to come _without_ getting beat up by Benro again. Not that he would do it in front of people.

Japhonan gestured in front of himself, seeing if the boy would like to walk ahead of them. But the boy showed no interest in doing so, so Japhonan went ahead with Lizzian and led the way out of the building toward where their chauffeur with the parked speeder were waiting.

Luke crawled into the back. He was dismayed to see the man sit down on one side, and the woman came in on the other side so that he was unintentionally sitting between them. Luke rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. _Perfect_, he thought sarcastically.

When they were all in, the chauffeur took off.

There was awkward silence in the speeder. Luke of course, wasn't anywhere near the thought of actually talking to anyone, especially them.

Lizzian looked at her husband, then back at the boy who was sitting silently, slumping down in his seat. She decided to speak up. "I'm sure you're going to love living with us. The apartment is very large; two stories and plenty of space."

_Like I didn't know that already,_ Luke said to himself. It was like she'd forgotten that the first time they had seen Luke was _in_ their house.

She kept talking. "Your room is fairly large too… larger than that high security room they were keeping you in."

_Yeah, thanks for bringing up the unpleasant stuff in my life,_ Luke thought again. He inwardly sighed, wondering why they could just take a hint and shut up.

The man was speaking now. "Hey I know we all got off on the wrong foot, but we'd really like to start new."

_Too late for that,_ Luke thought in response but outwardly, he didn't change his expression or give them the slightest knowledge that he had even been listening.

Lizzian sighed and shared a worried and saddened glance with Japhonan. If the boy would talk then he would always shut out the world forever. He had to learn to open up. Yet he still remained silent.

For the rest of the ride, Japhonan and Lizzian tried uselessly to get the boy to talk to them. When they got to the apartment they got out and walked ahead of Luke inside.

When Luke came inside, he passed the closet he'd been locked in during his first _"visit"_ here. Something inside of him jumped and he walked hurriedly away from that. He looked around and saw the man and woman walking up the stairs.

The woman turned down to him. "Come on, honey. Don't you want to see your room?" she asked, gesturing up to the second floor whose hallway was visible in the airy layout of the apartment.

Luke almost yelled at her to not call him "honey." But then he checked himself and kept his silence as he walked a few feet behind them up the stairs.

No one had ever called him "honey" before. It was annoying. Not the name he'd like anyone to be calling him, not even his biological mother. And it was a new sensation for him anyway.

At the top of the stairs, he came to a continuation of the entrance to the second floor. He followed them in the enclosed hall that continued the first one. A few doors down, they stopped and opened one of the doors. They waited at the entrance for Luke to come and see.

Luke didn't change his slow pace. He wasn't going to hurry for anyone. When he finally came to the room, he took a step inside and looked around. It was the biggest room anyone had ever given him. And also the best by several marks.

For one, the bed looked big enough for four people to sleep on it comfortably. It looked pretty soft too. On either side of it were bedside tables with matching lights on each side. And that was just the right side of the room. The other side had a huge flat screen hologram that he could watch shows, sports, movies, or news on. There was nice sofa and two other chairs all brought together with a large blue area rug and a coffee table. Directly opposite of him, there was a large desk placed neatly against the wall. On the desk he saw a computer… it was a newer model, he could tell. The color scheme in this room was obviously blue and silver. Luke found it hard to admit, but he was going to hate saying goodbye to this room when they sent him back...

"Do you like it?" the lady asked. Of course Luke didn't answer. He heard her sigh behind him, then say, "Well if you need anything, please let me or Japhonan know."

He heard her and her husband close the door and leave. Finally he was alone.

Moving from the spot where he'd been standing in, Luke walked towards the bed and tried it out… it was a wonderful change from the bed back in the high security room at the FHF. This place definitely outdid any other foster home he'd been to. But that was bad. The more you fall in love with a place, the harder it will be when the foster parents send you back.

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**A/N: Hard as it may be to believe, but I've been working on that chapter ever since the last update. It just takes so long to write a single chapter these days since I'm at school all the time. Well anyway, reviews would be wonderful. (hint, hint.)**


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N: Ahh… the weekend. It's a wonderful thing. It means more updating and I'm sure we're all glad to hear that. So anyway, I know that some of you are really looking forward to Vader's appearance in this story and so I'm happy to announce that he will be coming in really soon!**

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**Chapter Five**

Luke stayed in his room for a while. He didn't want to go out for fear of running into Japhonan or Lizzian. But after a while, he started to get hungry. Luke tried to ignore it but the hunger kept getting more intense. He should've expected it; after all, he hadn't eaten anything that morning.

Luke looked at the clock on one of the bedside tables. It was one hour into the afternoon. Had he been here that long?

Luke rose from his sitting position on the bed and walked to the door. He opened it slowly and stuck his head out to look into the hallway. No one was there. Cautiously, he stepped out and began walking to the end of the hall where the stairs were.

On his way, he couldn't help but notice how nice everything looked. Everything from the lights to the carpet was all very expensive and it felt like he was in a five star hotel. Luke felt very out of place in his high class surroundings. These people were obviously very rich.

At the end of the hall, Luke came to the balcony type thing that looked over the first floor of the apartment. Still no one in sight. He rushed down the stairs and went quickly through the open living room and made it to the kitchen door in no time.

Inside the kitchen, Luke went through the freezer unit and came out with ingredients to make himself a sandwich. He was half way through making his masterpiece when the door opened and Lizzian came in.

"Oh there you are," she said. Luke dropped what he was doing and took a few steps back.

Lizzian looked to the boy, then his half made sandwich. The boy was looking at her with his adorable eyes. She smiled. "Don't let me interrupt. You can keep making your sandwich."

Since the woman said he could make it, Luke decided to wait until she left. For some reason, he'd grown up in the habit of wanting to do the opposite of what anyone told him to do.

"You know," Lizzian said. "If you were hungry all you had to do was tell me and I could have made something for you." The boy didn't say anything. He just stood there watching her. "Well, if you don't need anything, I'll leave you to make your sandwich." The lady turned and left.

_Finally_, Luke thought. He went quickly back to his sandwich. When he had finished, Luke put it on a plate and escaped to his room to eat it.

…

Japhonan looked up from the book he was reading when Lizzian came into the room looking upset.

"What's wrong?" he asked. Because it was obvious that _something_ was wrong.

"It's the boy," she said, sitting down in one of the chairs. They were in Japhonan's favorite room; the library. "He's so quiet and secluded. I'm afraid that it's going to be a while before he says anything if ever."

Japhonan put the book down and looked thoughtful for a few seconds. "I think I know what we can do to help him."

Lizzian grew interested when she saw the gleam in her husband's eye. "Japh, what are you thinking?"

"Tomorrow, what are you doing?"

This didn't answer her question but still she answered, "I'm meeting with Secay Alhap and a few other senators to discuss the Empire's Anti-Alien law."

Japhonan nodded and smiled. "That's perfect because I too have a meeting at the Senate."

Lizzian shook her head. "I still don't know where you're taking this."

"I have an idea that if the boy was around more people, he would begin to see what he's missing by refusing to communicate with other people."

Now she understood. "I see, you want us to bring him to the Senate with us tomorrow?"

"Why not?" Japhonan replied. We need to keep an eye on him anyway. It'd be a good experience for him.

…

The next day, Luke was surprised when the man and lady came into this room two hours before noon and told him that they were going to the Senate, and he was coming with them.

At first, Luke didn't want to go, but he'd be bored if he just stayed in the apartment all day anyway, so he decided it wouldn't hurt to come along for the ride. It'd be something to do.

It was a short ride to the Senate. Japhonan and Lizzian lived really close and it took hardly any time to get there. When they landed, Luke followed them into the large building. He was intimidated by the size of it.

Inside, there was red carpet and long windows that went along the side of the halls. If you looked out, you would see dozens of floors below you that made up the gigantic Senate building.

Not wanting to get lost, Luke made sure to keep up with the other two. They walked for a while until they came up a few floors to a set of double doors. Lizzian turned to Luke.

"Okay darling, you stay right out here next to these doors, alright? Japhonan is going to be right upstairs in another meeting but you're to stay right here, okay?"

Luke didn't change his expression. She stood there for a few seconds, and then went inside the doors. Japhonan smiled at him before leaving for his own meeting. This left Luke alone outside the doors with nothing to do but watch the people walk by.

He slowly sat down. Normally, Luke would go off on his own and find something some way to entertain himself but this was such a large building, he feared that he would get lost and someone would see him, think he was an orphan and send him back to the FHF or something and he had to avoid that.

"Are you supposed to be here?"

Luke jumped at the sound of the deep voice next to him. He looked up and saw a black mask staring down at him. Luke didn't get around much, but he wasn't stupid. It was _Darth Vader_.

Luke stood up quickly and stared at Darth Vader. He was terrified but didn't know what to say… plus he'd promised himself that he wouldn't talk to people so that was out of the question anyway.

"Answer my question," Lord Vader said in a compelling voice.

Even if Luke _hadn't_ made the promise not to speak, he wouldn't have been able to anyway. Without a second thought in mind, he edged his way to the other side of the hall and then suddenly burst into a run. He didn't look back and he didn't stop going. There was no way he was talking to Lord Vader no matter what promises he'd made.

…

Vader watched the boy go. It was a typical reaction of any child that saw him. Normally Vader would just ignore children. But this particular child had something about him. Not just figuratively. It was a slight aroma of the Force that surrounded this child. Vader had wondered, just wondered why the boy had been sitting outside those doors.

Perhaps his parents were taking part of a meeting in there? That was probably it. Though Vader had noticed that this boy wasn't as nicely dressed as most of the other senator's children.

With this settled in his mind, Vader walked on and forgot about the boy… for a while.

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**A/N: Woo! Vader's first appearance! I told you it was coming soon. I want to update tomorrow, but don't expect anything. I have a party to go to and I don't know if I'll have more time until next weekend. I hope you enjoyed the chapter!**

**Please review!**


	7. Chapter 6

**A/N: Thank you for the reviews. I hope you keep it up because without reviews, this story's not going anywhere. It's true. Like the rest of you, I'm happy we've gotten to the part where Vader joins the story. Just so you guys know, I know exactly where I'm taking this story and that's why I think it's getting written fairly quick.**

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**Chapter Six**

Lizzian thought the meeting went fairly well. All of the senators agreed it was unfair for the Empire to outlaw aliens just because they weren't the same species as them. She was walking out the door with one of her closer friends, Mon Mothma, when she realized that the boy wasn't waiting outside.

She looked around, thinking maybe she missed him at her first glance, but in a few seconds she succeeded in getting very nervous."Oh dear," she said, still looking around.

"Is there something the matter?" Mothma asked her, seeing the worried expression on her friend's face.

"Oh, no, no, no, he's not here!" Lizzian exclaimed.

"Lizzian, control yourself," Mothma said, keeping her own calmness with ease but inwardly wondering as to the cause of her friend's confusion and worry.

"The boy that Japhonan and I are taking care of," Lizzian said, explaining to Mothma. "He's gone."

"What?" Mothma asked, now reacting a little. "Dear, you never told me that you adopted a child."

Lizzian shook her head. "We didn't _adopt_ him. We're just his foster parents. We just brought him home with us yesterday and thought that exposure around other people would be good for him. I didn't think he'd run off!"

At that moment, Japhonan returned from his meeting and was coming towards them. He noticed that Lizzian was alone and the boy was no where in sight. Well this wasn't good...

"Japhonan!" Lizzian exclaimed. "The boy isn't here, I think he ran off."

Japhonan's eyes were the only thing betraying his inner reaction. He, like Mothma, remained calm. "There's no need to panic, Lizzian. I'm sure he couldn't have gotten far. We just need to split up and look for him."

"If you like, I wouldn't mind searching as well," Mothma said She was willing ready to help her friends, and today she had no other engagements anyway.

"Would you? Oh that would be wonderful," Lizzian said in slight relief.

"Alright," Japhonan said. "You two can go that way, and I'll go this way. If you find him, comm me."

…

It didn't take long to find him. Lizzian and Mothma had only been searching for fifteen minutes when they found the boy hidden behind a large potted plant. It looked like he was hiding.

Lizzian rushed to him. "Oh my, what are you doing?" she asked in a worried tone. "We have been looking everywhere for you and you have no idea how worried I was!"

The boy slowly came out of his hiding place when he saw Lizzian. Apparently, it was her who he was hiding from.

"What were you thinking by running off like that?" Lizzian asked, putting her hands on his shoulders, scolding him in her relief that he hadn't left the building and gotten lost in the streets.

The boy remained with a blank face, blue eyes staring back at her. Lizzian shook her head. "Come on, Japhonan is worried about you too."

After Lizzian commed Japh and told him that they had found the boy, Mothma turned to her. "That boy would never make a good fighter."

Lizzian looked at her friend quizzically. "Why do you say that?"

Mothma gave a superior sigh. "He just doesn't have the makings of a warrior."

…

Back at the house, Luke went directly to his room to and shut the door. Finally he was alone again. Luke was an introvert. He had to be by himself to recuperate and relax. Silence surrounded his life. It was the one thing that still felt like home to him.

Blast those people for making him go to the Senate with them! Because of them, he had just had the scare of his life. He'd actually come face to face with the single most frightening figure the galaxy had ever known. This just hadn't been his day… as always.

In an attempt to forget about his life for a moment, Luke went to the other side of the room and sat down on the sofa. Turning on the hologram unit, he decided to see if anything good was on.

Luke flipped channels for a while and was about to give up when he saw something that caught his attention immediately. It was a live swoop bike race.

It was amazing to him how fast they could go. The maneuvers and stunts they were pulling off were just fantastic. Luke wished he could pilot like that. Someday he would… maybe that would be something to actually look forward to.

…

"Darling, you have to be joking," Lizzian said. "After what happened at the Senate today, do you really want to take him back there?"

"Lizzian, it won't be like last time," Japhonan said. "This is a social gathering, a party. We'll be able to stay at his side every minute. He won't run off if we're watching him the whole time."

For the thousandth time that day, Lizzian shook her head. "I don't think this is a good idea. He needs to rest after what happened today."

"And what exactly _did_ happen today?" Japhonan replied. "What motivation did he have for running off just to hide? It wasn't anything _we_ did."

"Maybe something happened while he was out there by himself," Lizzian suggested.

Japhonan nodded. "Exactly my point. Something happened when we weren't there to watch him. But if we keep an eye on him and make sure nothing happens, he will have no need to run off. Don't you see?"

Lizzian couldn't help but see the logic in this. "I'm just worried he'll be scared. He doesn't do well around other people."

"And if we want to help him, we have to get him to be comfortable around other people. Don't worry, he'll do fine."

…

"… and so we want you to come with us tonight," Japhonan finished.

Luke just stared at him as he always did. They wanted to take him _back_ there? To a huge gathering with tons of people he didn't know? Strangers? What were they _thinking?_ Were they crazy!? Luke didn't want to go back there.

To show them how he felt, Luke let himself glare at them and made no move to stand up from his position on the sofa.

"I _told_ you," Luke heard Lizzian mummer to Japhonan.

Despite this, Japhonan walked toward the sofa and sat down next to Luke. Luke scooted away to the end of the sofa.

"We really want you to come with us," Japhonan said in a tone with a little authority behind it. "There will be other children your age there. You'll have fun."

Luke gave him a look that clearly said, _"Are you __kidding__?"_

Apparently, Japhonan wasn't going to let Luke have his way this time. He stood up. "Be ready at six. We'll come up to get you when it's time to go.

Luke narrowed his eyes at them as they left. A social gathering? He did **not** want to go. There would be lots of high class people there that he wouldn't fit in with. He would stand out and they would point at him and whisper to each other about how he didn't belong there.

He didn't want to go. He **refused** to go.

Luke continued thinking this as he got into the speeder taking them to the party.

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**A/N: Ta da! Another chapter created for your enjoyment. Next chapter: the party!**


	8. Chapter 7

**A.N: WOO! You guys, I am so siked! For a couple different reasons: one, I got a lead role in this play my school's doing. Only a third of the people who auditioned got to be cast in the show. And the second reason I'm so happy is I get a three day weekend, starting now!!! … And that had nothing whatsoever to do with the story.**

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**Chapter Seven**

Vader had never enjoyed social gatherings. Usually, he wouldn't have to bother about going, but every now and then the Emperor would request Vader's attendance for various reasons… this was one of those times. It wouldn't be a lie to say that he hated these occasions. There were so many things he would rather do.

The only people who came to these parties were senators and sometimes their children. It was always worse when they brought their children because most of the time, the kids would parade around, thinking they were very important. It was so annoying to see that.

Hopefully there weren't going to be a lot of children this time.

…

Luke had resolved before they even got there that he was going to make as much trouble as possible for this couple. They hadn't shown the faintest sign of wanting to send him back and that began to worry him. If they didn't send him back soon, then Luke may actually start to like them. And as soon as he decided that he _did_ like them, _then_ they would send him back. That would be unbearable; he _had_ to prevent this from happening.

They came into the large ballroom and Luke gaped at the sight of it. It was so big! At the far end there were two sets of huge doors leading to balconies outside. On either side of the room, there were stairs leading to indoor balconies overlooking the main part of the ballroom.

All over the place, he saw tables loaded with trays of food. There were waiters going around with more trays of appetizers. All about the room, there were people talking, dancing and enjoying themselves… it was the perfect scene for a disaster.

As soon as Lizzian and Japhonan were busy talking to people, Luke saw his chance to sneak away. He wormed his way through the crowds, heading to the closest table of food he saw.

He came to the very end of one of the tables and climbed under it. He crawled on the floor, hidden from the guests by the long table cloth. When he came to the center, he climbed out the back near the wall where no one would see him. Just as he thought, the large punch bowl rested there, just waiting to be tipped.

No one could see Luke from where he was. He knelt down behind the table with his hand ready to tip it as soon as he had a few people in front of it. It was a while, but finally he got the perfect chance. Luke couldn't suppress a devious smile as he tipped the bowl, causing it to fall and spill all over the unassuming guests.

The screams he heard on the other side of the table was very rewarding to him. He suddenly stood up when he saw some of the punch leaking its way to his side of the table. When he stood, Luke saw that his plan had succeeded even better than he could have hoped.

The punch bowl had been bigger than he thought. When he had tipped it, the punch had gone all across the floor and tripped the people dancing, causing them to fall. Everyone was screaming as they tripped and stumbled. The whole room had become utter chaos.

Luke put his hands on his hips and laughed as he enjoyed the fruits of his work. On a whim, Luke decided to go to one of the balconies overlooking the room so he could get a better view of the scene that was taking place.

…

Vader had to admit, this was one of the more enjoyable parties he had ever attended. Somehow, the punch bowl had fallen, causing nearly all the guests to fall. The way they tried in vain to get up and gain some dignity was just sheer amusement to Vader. Apparently he wasn't the only one who thought so.

Someone had come up the stairs and was now looking down on the scene with a devious smile on his face. It was the boy he had seen earlier that day. The boy hadn't noticed him so Vader decided to stay quiet and see how long it took him to figure out he wasn't alone.

Slowly, Vader realized that it had been the boy who had caused the scene below to take place. And now he was enjoying the results. Such a little trouble maker, that boy. He was nearly as amusing as the guests.

Vader decided to talk to the boy and see if he would talk this time.

"I see you have been up to some mischief," Vader observed.

…

Luke whirled around when he heard Vader's voice.

"_Oh crap…"_ he thought, backing back towards the stairs.

"Are you enjoying yourself?" Vader asked him, almost amusingly as he referred to Luke's little prank.

Luke bit his lip nervously. What was he going to do _now?_

He was so scared that he was almost relieved when he heard Japhonan coming up the stairs and walk behind Luke.

"Don't you think I didn't see what you did," Japhonan said warningly to Luke. "What _possessed_ you to do something like that?"

But then Japhonan also noticed Vader's presence and he stopped rebuking Luke so he could focus on the Dark Lord.

"Lord Vader," he said in a neutral voice. "I wasn't aware that you were here."

"It was requested that I attend," Vader said in an equally neutral voice.

Luke, meanwhile, inched his way behind Japhonan. He wanted to get as far away from Vader as possible. Japhonan noticed this and felt slightly exuberant that the boy would seek refuge behind him.

Vader gestured to Luke. "Is he yours?"

Japhonan was taken back by Vader's interest, but answered without a pause. "Oh no. We're his foster parents."

…

Vader couldn't help but be interested when he heard this. If this man wasn't the boy's father, then who was? This boy undoubtedly had Force potential. Perhaps his father was a former Jedi who escaped the purges and tried to reproduce. There was only one way to find out.

"Really?" Vader said. "Who are his parents?"

…

Luke scowled when he heard Vader ask who his biological parents were. Why would he care anyway? Why couldn't he just leave him alone?

"We don't know," Japhonan answered. "The boy won't talk."

Vader cocked his head to the side. "You mean he _can't_ talk or he _won't_ talk?"

"He _won't_ talk," Japhonan said.

…

Vader nodded. It may be important to find out…

…

Luke suddenly sensed something. An interest from the Dark Lord directed at him. This frightened Luke enough to want to jump out the nearby window. Instead, he grabbed Japhonan's hand and began pulling him toward the stairs.

Japhonan got the hint and began to follow.

"It was a pleasure, Lord Vader," Japhonan said politely.

"_Yeah right,"_ Luke thought to himself.

He was happy when they found Lizzian and left early. Luke couldn't stand being here any longer. Even the pleasure of his earlier prank had temporarily gone sour. Only back in the speeder did he think back and feel the urge to laugh.

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**A/N: Aren't you guys happy??? I know **_**I**_** am! Please review! Hopefully I will update again this weekend but don't get your hopes high if you don't review!!!**


	9. Chapter 8

**A/N: You guys, I've finally completely planned out, in detail, the rest of this story. You are going to love me! Yeah, I think this is gonna be good. Now I'm really excited. I'm trying to update a little bit more because I still have two days left of this gloriously long weekend. Enjoy the chapter! And trust me; you will. (grins)**

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**Chapter Eight**

"I just can't believe you did that!"

Luke rolled his eyes. How many times would Japhonan say that until he decided to give it a rest? Ever since they had gotten in the speeder to leave the party, all Japhonan had done was scold him about what Luke had done with the punch bowl and the guests.

"I'm sure it was just an accident," Lizzian said, coming to his defense. He had no idea why.

"It was no accident," Japhonan said. He spoke with such conviction that Luke really felt like he had seen the whole thing. He probably had…

"I don't want to see you do something like that ever again!" Japhonan said, pointing a finger at Luke.

Luke was tempted to tell him to shut up. Who cared what he did? He didn't matter to them. Why hadn't they taken him back to the FHF already? It was only a matter of time until they did.

Luke faintly realized that Japhonan was still talking to him…

"… and to ensure that you don't, I'm grounding you."

_What!?_ They were _grounding_ him? No one had ever done that before. Wait a minute! They couldn't ground him! No one could. He wouldn't _let_ them!

The speeder had landed now and Japhonan got out then turned around to Luke. "Go to your room and go straight to sleep. You are not allowed to use computers or turn on any holograms."

Luke stumbled out of the speeder and pushed past Japhonan in an angry torrent. He didn't care what they said. He wasn't going to let them ground him.

Up in his room, Luke purposefully slammed the door and threw himself on the bed, fighting back the urge to yell. Sometimes he just got so mad, he felt like he could kill something! After taking a few moments to let the anger leave his system, Luke finally turned around to lie on his back and stare at the ceiling.

It was dark in his room; he hadn't bothered to turn on the lights. It was peaceful and quiet and it let Luke think clearly. Not that anything was clear to him. Luke just couldn't figure out this couple's motive for keeping him.

The thought that they actually cared about him never entered Luke's head.

Maybe they just wanted someone to boss around since they didn't have any kids of their own. Or perhaps their lives were so miserable that they wanted to inflict misery on someone else aka Luke. It had to be something like that.

Luke didn't even realize he was crying until he felt hot tears fall from his cheeks. Why couldn't he _matter_ to anyone? Why did his biological parents have to die? If they were still alive, then maybe… would he have grown up being… loved?

So much in that one little word… a word that would never describe any emotion directed at him. The thought of that word having nothing to do with his life caused Luke's heart to feel empty.

Luke sniffed as the tears began coming in earnest now. He took the pillow and threw it over his face, ashamed. He tried so hard not to cry. But without tears, he would be emotionless… but the fact remained that he had so much emotion. It was all stored up inside and he tried never to let it show. Now all those emotions came out and there was no one to cuddle him. No one to help him.

No one to care.

…

Lizzian was on her way to the master bedroom at the far end of the upstairs hallway when she heard a soft noise coming from the boy's room. She leaned her head against the door and listened. Faintly, she made out the sounds of the boy crying.

She gasped. Had Japhonan really made the boy so upset?

Lizzian ran… no, she wouldn't run... so she walked _really_ fast to her bedroom where Japhonan was already waiting.

"Japh, he's crying," Lizzian said, almost in tears herself.

Japhonan stood up from the bed. "Really?" he asked worriedly.

"Yes," Lizzian nodded. "I think you upset him."

"It couldn't be that," Japhonan said, shaking his head. "But I'm sure it rattled him a bit."

"We have to do something," Lizzian said.

"Like what?"

She thought a lot that night, but a solution never came.

…

The next day, Lizzian reminded herself about the dinner party she was hosting that night at their apartment. She had been planning this for three weeks now. If Lizzian could have it her way, she would have canceled it now that they had the boy to worry about. But to cancel it on the day it was taking place would be rude.

The dinner party was going to start at 6:00 that night and Lizzian had a whole lot to do to get it ready. It wasn't going to be big. Just four other couples; good friends of Lizzian and Japhonan. Still, Lizzian couldn't help but be worried that the boy would try to do something foolish.

…

Luke found out about the party when he heard Lizzian talking to Japhonan about what food and drinks to buy for that night. A plan instantly came to mind and caused Luke to grin. Major payback. No one got away with grounding him.

Luke began planning out in detail how he would wreck the dinner party. He had figured out that if you stood on the top shelf of the desk in his room, he could reach the shaft that led into the air vents that ran over the house. He followed them and sure enough, he found the shaft that opened up in the dining room. Here, he could hatch his evil plan.

With the thought of how to do it out of the way, Luke began focusing on exactly what he planned to do. The solution came to mind when he heard a maid in the hall outside of the apartment yelling at some other maid to take out the mice.

Jumping up from where he had been sitting, Luke ran out the door into the hall. He saw a lot of other doors that led into other people's apartments but he didn't care about that. All he cared about was the maid's cart he saw a little bit down the hall. The maid was somewhere else at the moment. It was perfect timing.

Luke crept over to the cart and sure enough, he saw a cage where three mice were rushing around in. Apparently they had been caught by the maid. Picking up the small cage with the mice, Luke quickly rushed back into the apartment and shut the door. He could hear the maid coming back and yelling again at the other maid, demanding what she had done with the mice. Luke bit his lip to keep himself from laughing.

With the mice cage securely in both his hands, Luke went up to his room and shut the door before Lizzian could spot him. Japhonan was out buying the things that Lizzian had asked him to buy earlier so he didn't have to worry about him for now.

Taking the mice, he stood on the desk and put the cage in the air vents, then pulled himself up as well. Then, pushing the cage in front of him, he crawled back to the shaft over the dinning room. He left the mice there in the vent, then let himself fall silently to the floor of the dinning room.

Luke looked around, trying to think of more ways to sabotage the dinner party. His eyes landed on the table. Suddenly, he got an idea. Running to the kitchen, he searched around for a sharp knife. After finding the desired tool, he ran back to the dinning room then crawled under the table.

Taking the knife, Luke began slicing through the table legs. He did this to each one till, with just a little extra weight and persuasion, he was sure that the table would collapse. It was such a brilliant idea, Luke couldn't believe he'd thought of it.

After returning the knife to its home, Luke rushed back to his room and waited for 6:00 to come.

…

From his room, Luke could barely hear Japhonan arrive with the groceries. And one hour later he heard the guests come, one by one. When he heard the noise grow more distant, he knew they were heading for the dinning room.

Time to put his plan into action.

Lifting himself into the air vent, Luke crawled, silently this time, until he came to where he had left the mouse cage earlier. Looking down, he could see them all talking and sitting down, getting ready to eat dinner.

Quietly, he opened the cage containing the mice. Then, opening the shaft, he tipped the cage, causing the mice to fall down on the dignified guests.

The women shot up out of their chairs, screaming. Two of the men reached across the table to help them. This caused the table legs to give out causing the table, with all the food and filled wine glasses, to collapse. The food spilled all over the place. The wine splashed out and a lot of it landed on the guests.

Luke couldn't help himself. He laughed so hard, he couldn't breathe.

Faintly, he heard Japhonan yell up at him. "You're in so much trouble!"

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**A/N: HAHA! I'm laughing so hard right now! Please review!!!**


	10. Chapter 9

A/N: Hey I'm not getting as many reviews as I got on the earlier chapters of this story? What happened, huh? Come on, guys you've got to review. Every review makes my day so much better so consider it while you're reading why don't ya? Oh, by the way, I've been getting people asking me when Vader's going to find out that Luke is his son. Don't worry. I've got the whole thing planned out. It'll come soon enough.

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**Chapter Nine**

The morning after the dinner party disaster, Luke woke up remembering what had happened and grinned. All in all, sabotaging that dinner had been really fun last night. After Japhonan had yelled at him, Luke had gone back to his room and locked it so no one could come in and yell at him some more.

The grin left his face when he remembered how angry Japhonan had been at him and how upset and horrified Lizzian had been when she saw what a disaster her hard planned party had become.

Luke got solemn again. They were probably going to send him back now. And that was a good thing, wasn't it? He'd _planned_ for them to send him back, didn't he?

Luke realized more and more that no matter how much he tried to justify it, he was still going to be upset. But he didn't want to stay _here_ either! Did he?

Getting out of bed, Luke decided to go see what Japhonan and Lizzian were up to. It was good sleeping in his clothes, he thought. Luke always slept in his clothes and that way he didn't have to bother getting dressed when he woke up every morning because he was_ already_ dressed. It was convenient.

Luke tip toed quietly down the hall to the master bedroom and put his head against the door. Just as he thought, he heard voices on the other side of the door. He pressed closer to hear them.

"… maybe we should try something new," Lizzian was saying.

"I agree," Japhonan said. "Being around people isn't changing the boy's attitude at all. What else could we do?"

Luke faintly heard Lizzian make a noise that sounded like frustration. "I don't know. What did the people at FHF do?"

"No, no, no, whatever they tried didn't work. Or else the boy would be talking by now."

There was silence for a while. Luke waited, hoping they'd say more. After a few moments, Japhonan spoke again.

"Maybe it's just a time thing. I'll bet in a few more weeks, he'll start to get more familiar with us and with being around other people."

"Yes," Lizzian said, after considering it. "Yes, I bet that's it."

Luke had heard enough. He stormed away from the door, across the hall and down the stairs.

They weren't sending him back!? After _everything_ he'd done, they weren't giving up!? This couple was harder than any other pair of people Luke had ever had to work against. Why couldn't they just give up _before_ he started to like them? Luke knew that after a few weeks of these people being so kind, he _would_ eventually start to like them… and _then_ they'd send him back. That would hurt more than anything. This couldn't happen to him! Not again!

When he was younger, before Luke had had any experience in this kind of world, he would instantly begin to like his foster parents. But they'd send him back after a while for one reason or another and Luke was always left feeling lost and alone.

Well now he already knew that he was alone, so what was the point in pretending he wasn't? There was no way he was going to stay here long enough to like these people!

Luke looked around the apartment, trying to get his thoughts in order. No good. He was too angry and confused.

Making his way to the kitchen, Luke decided that maybe a sip of water would cool his temper down. He opened the freezer unit, but instead of going for the water jar, Luke's eyes fell on a leftover bottle of champagne from last night that hadn't been opened.

Luke didn't stop to think about what he was doing. He took the bottle of alcohol, then left the apartment. He went through the halls of the whole apartment building complex till he came to the exit. He left and walked out into the streets, never once looking back.

…

Lizzian probably wouldn't have found out so soon that the boy had left if she hadn't decided to check on him. She opened the door to his room and saw that the boy was no where to be seen.

This, of course, led her to believe that he was in the kitchen. That was the second place she looked. But when she didn't find him in there either, she began to get worried. Lizzian checked the dinning room, the library, and all the other rooms. The boy was nowhere to be seen.

"Japhonan!"

…

Luke had walked until he had left the upper part of Coruscaunt far behind him. Here, he sat down, happy to rest his tired legs. He looked at the champagne bottle he held. Luke hadn't opened it yet. He still didn't know if he wanted to.

Suddenly all the times when people had hurt him came to memory. That did it. Luke popped open the bottle and took a long sip. He put it down and grimaced at the unusual taste. For some reason, he raised the bottle to his lips again and took another sip. His body felt cold, then it got warm. Luke sipped it again. This carried on until there was nothing left in the bottle.

By this time, Luke had become quiet delusional and confused. He stood up and found that the world was spinning. He fell back down. Grunting, Luke tried to stand up again, using the wall of the building he'd been sitting against for support. Finally, he succeeded in standing up.

His head began to swim and Luke couldn't see clearly no matter how much he tried. Maybe a little walk would clear his head. Yeah, that was it.

Luke took a shaky step forward. Then another. His head began to ache but Luke didn't notice it much. He kept walking and didn't hear the sound of a speeder starting up nearby.

A few more steps. He decided that maybe he'd get farther running. And so, he began to run the best he could being drunk.

Suddenly, a speeder took off. The driver didn't see Luke until it was too late. They collided and Luke went crashing to the ground. He cried out at the pain that the sudden contact with the speeder had caused him.

Luke rolled his head from side to side. He couldn't stand up. He hurt… all over… so much… consciousness was leaving him. He faintly heard people yelling.

"Someone, call the hospital!"

That was the last thing he heard before he fell into unconsciousness.

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**A/N: Review you guys or you may have to wait a while for the next chapter… I'm just kidding. But seriously, reviews would help. I need at least seven reviews on this chapter before I give you another.**


	11. Chapter 10

**A/N: Thanks guys! I got **_**thirteen**_** reviews on that last chapter. That's how I always want it to be when I update. You think you can do that? Yeah, I think you can, so keep up the reviewing, it's a wonderful thing. By the way, this chapter was sort of hard to write. (Character's emotions wise.) So please show your love and tell me what you think.**

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**Chapter Ten**

Awareness came slowly. It was like everything he did was in slow motion. Luke tried to open his eyes and look around but found that he couldn't even do that. He tried to move his arms and legs but it was too difficult. Luke was surrounded by wires and other medical equipment. He felt horrible.

Luke didn't know where he was. He was scared. He wanted to cry out but he couldn't open his mouth. All this frightened him.

Then he realized that he wasn't alone in the room. Someone was talking. He tried to listen.

"… very injured and I'm afraid he'll have to remain here for some time."

Luke heard someone crying. It was Lizzian. Why was she crying? Maybe because Luke was causing them a huge medical bill. Yeah that was it.

"Will he be okay?" Japhonan asked urgently. He sounded worried. Why would he be worried?

"I think so," the stranger's voice said. Luke decided that it was a doctor. "He won't be able to get out of bed for a few days. His legs were hit and they'll have to heal. His left arm was hit the hardest. And his head is suffering from the impact of the fall, plus alcohol overdose."

"Oh my," Lizzian said. "I can't believe he would do that." Luke nearly sighed. He knew she was probably going to scold him as soon as he was really awake. "He almost got killed… I… I don't know what I would have done if that had happened."

_What?_ Would she actually… care if he got killed? Did she care now that he was hurt? Was _that_ why she was crying? And Japhonan… did he care too? He sounded like it. Did they keep Luke all this time because they _cared?_ But… but… _no one_ cared about _Luke_.

But it was true. Two people _did_ care about him. They had tried to let him know. They had helped him… or at least _tried_ to help him and all Luke had done was cause trouble for them.

Now Luke began to feel emotionally just as bad as he did physically. It wasn't like he was _related_ to them though. They were just his foster parents. It wasn't like he was going to stay with them forever but still… they _cared_ about him!

Luke began to notice how drowsy he felt. Maybe he should take a little nap…

…

When Luke woke up again he felt different. For one thing, there weren't a lot of wires around him and also, there were no voices. Just silence. Wonderful, peaceful silence. And to top it off, he didn't feel as sick as he did the last time he woke up. How long had he been asleep?

Luke opened his eyes and looked around. He wasn't in the room he'd woken up in last time. This was a private hospital bedroom. There was a window to the right of his bed and to the left of the bed…

Was Japhonan! Japhonan was sitting on a chair, his body lay face down on the bed. He was asleep. Luke didn't know what to do so he poked him. Japhonan sat up instantly and looked around.

"I wasn't asleep!" Japhonan said at once. Luke hid a smile behind his hand. Japhonan settled down and focused on Luke.

…

Japhonan couldn't believe he'd fallen asleep again. He should have expected it. He and Lizzian had been taking turns sitting by the boy day and night for three nights in a row. He looked at the boy who seemed a little amused. Well he'd never seen _that_ expression on the boy before.

"Hello," Japhonan said gently. "How do you feel?" As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he realized that the boy wouldn't answer him. But Japhonan kept talking anyway.

"We were so worried about you. You've been asleep for three straight days."

The boy looked a little surprised at this. He looked down for a second, as if he was thinking then looked back up at Japhonan. His expression was blank again.

"Why did you do that?" Japhonan asked. "Run away and try to use alcohol to solve your problems. That never works. When you're upset, you need to confide in someone… or in your case, as least confide in yourself."

The boy looked a little ashamed. Japhonan decided that this wasn't the time to rebuke him. The boy had gone through so much recently, right now all he needed was love, not scolding.

"I'm sorry if it was us who caused you to run away. I guess we're not doing as good a job as we thought we could. I can tell you're unhappy. All we wanted to do was help, but I guess we did just the opposite."

…

Luke couldn't believe this guy! Japhonan was blaming all this on himself! How nice can one person get? Japhonan and Lizzian had helped him so much. Luke wanted to tell him, but he'd promised himself he wouldn't talk. He wouldn't talk… he _wouldn't_ talk…

…

"We're sorry. If you want, we can take you back to the FHF. Please keep in mind that you an always stay with us, but we want you to go where _you_ want to go."

The boy looked at him, slightly saddened it seemed. Japhonan wanted to comfort him, maybe give him a hug, but he knew that the boy didn't like to be touched.

Japhonan stood up. "I'll leave you now; I know how much you like to be alone."

He was at the door and was about to leave when he heard something he never thought he'd ever hear.

"My name is Luke."

Japhonan whirled around. The boy was looking at him with a small grin on his face. "W… what?" Japhonan said. Did that boy actually just _speak?_

"My name is Luke," the boy repeated.

Japhonan walked back towards the bed. The boy… Luke… watched him the whole time, grinning appreciatively at him. Japhonan knelt down next to the bed. They watched each other for a few minutes. Then Luke reached out, and hugged him. Japhonan hugged him back and smiled.

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**A/N: Aww… (sniff) It's so **_**cute!**_** Next chapter: Vader!**

**I need at least seven reviews before I update again.**


	12. Chapter 11

**A/N: It's Vader time! (Darth Vader's theme music plays.) I'm sorry that the chapters aren't very long. Somehow they just came out that way. But the content will make up for the shortness. And the next chapter, I promise is longer. By the way, thank you SO much you guys for reviewing. I love you soooo much! Keep it up and I promise this fast updating will continue.**

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**Chapter Eleven**

The next day, it was Lizzian's turn to stay with Luke. Japhonan knew she'd enjoy it now that the boy was talking. Luke still was very quiet. He wasn't used to talking all the time, but at least now he answered their questions. Luke still wouldn't talk to other people. The only people he spoke to were Japhonan and Lizzian. But it was a start and Japhonan was glad.

Luke was trying to communicate better with people. He could tell. And that was great that he was finally trying to do something other than sabotage parties.

Japhonan wished he was at the hospital with Lizzian and Luke, but he had a meeting at the Senate today. It was a meeting he couldn't afford to miss. He had missed a whole lot of things in the past few days in order to stay with Luke. But now that he was feeling better Japhonan felt he could leave without being worried. Plus, Lizzian was with him. Japhonan hoped this meeting wouldn't take long though.

…

Vader was on his way back to his own palace after talking with the Emperor. It had been about something minor and Vader still didn't see the point in it. He was making his way through the halls when he suddenly saw the senator that he'd met at the party a few days ago. The one who was taking care of that Force sensitive boy.

"Senator," Vader said. Senator Marthio stopped and bowed his head politely.

"Lord Vader, how may I help you?"

Vader looked around. "You don't have the boy with you this time," he observed. "What happened, did you send him back?"

Japhonan Marthio looked happy when he answered. "No. After what happened a few days ago, we thought we'd have to…"

"What happened a few days ago?" Vader asked, interested.

The Senator showed some uncomfort in answering the question. It was only natural for him to think this was unusual, but he did just the same. "He ran off and got hurt. He's in the hospital right now."

Well this was news. "He got hurt? How?"

Apparently, this was getting just a little too weird for the Senator. "Well, I'd continue this conversation, but I'm late for a meeting. Good day, Lord Vader."

Vader watched the man go. He had some nerve leaving like that and refusing to answer Vader's question. But it was all very well; Vader had other ways to get the answers he wanted. It would have been quicker and easier if the senator had just answered, but at least the other way Vader could get all the answers he needed.

He went back to his own palace and commed one of his spies.

"What is your request, Lord Vader?" the man asked obediently.

"I want you to find out as much as you can about the boy the Marthios are taking care of."

"Right away, milord."

"And another thing," Vader said, suddenly thinking of something. "I want you to get some of his DNA and analyze it. Find out who his parents are. And I want a midichlorian count."

"I will be done milord."

If the boy's parents turned out to be Jedi, then he would have to be killed. A DNA test would provide just the information he needed to know. His spy would take care of it all now. All he had to do was wait.

…

Nelis Ziatl, Vader's spy, spent the rest of his day doing research and learning exactly which hospital the boy was at. He had to arrive there while the boy was asleep and while no one else was there so he could take the DNA unnoticed.

He had to wait at midnight that night. The woman who had been sitting with the boy left for a little snack and the boy was sleeping. Nelis snuck into the room silently. He had everything he needed. It would take just a second to get a sample of the boy's DNA.

He quickly numbed a spot on the boy's arm so he wouldn't feel anything and wake up. After waiting a few seconds, he began to worked skillfully. As he already knew, it only took a second. Then, he left the room and shut the door. It was as if he had never been there.

…

Back at the lab, Nelis went to work immediately analyzing the DNA sample. It went to the computer screen to see the results.

"No way…"

The computer was still counting the midichlorians. The numbers kept getting higher and higher. It seemed like years before the computer was done. The results were shocking: Over twenty thousand. Nelis shook his head and read it again. The same numbers were there. He whistled then looked at the rest of the results.

Father: Anakin Skywalker  
Mother: Padme Amidala  
Age: Thirteen

"Are you _kidding_ me!?" Nelis exclaimed.

Padme Amidala, the deceased senator of Naboo. She had been so influential on the Old Republic. Nelis wasn't aware that she had married. Especially not Anakin Skywalker! Nelis had been a young man during the Old Republic back when Anakin Skywalker had been a household name. This boy was the offspring of _those_ two!? Who knew? Nelis never would have put those two together.

Regaining his seriousness, Nelis called Vader so he could tell him of the results.

…

It was taking so long. Vader couldn't explain his impatience but for some reason, he awaited, almost eagerly, the results that Nelis should be getting any time soon.

Suddenly his comm began to beep. Vader saw that it was Nelis and he answered it immediately.

"You have the results?" Vader asked when he answered the comm.

"Yes, Lord Vader. I've sent them to your computer. Parents and midichlorian count."

"You have done well Nelis."

"Thank you, milord."

Vader put away his comm and went directly to his computer. The test results came up. He looked at the screen and read them.

Father: Anakin Skywalker  
Mother: Padme Amidala  
Age: Thirteen  
Midichlorian Count: 27,000

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**A/N: Oh yeah, cliffhanger. My specialty. Now press the button over there on the left and review. I need at least seven reviews before I update again. So you really might wanna consider dropping a comment... yup.**


	13. Chapter 12

**A/N: Have fun with this you guys. I worked extra hard on this chapter to make it good. It's pretty long and it's got lots of awesomeness. Lots of fun, oh yeah. So as always, thank you so much for the reviews. I hope you enjoy this next chapter.**

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**Chapter Twelve**

_What…?_ Did he read the screen right? Vader read it again… and again. _What!?_ The reality just wouldn't kick in. He tried to make himself think but his mind just kept locking onto those three words:

_Father: Anakin Skywalker_.

Father? Skywalker… him? This couldn't be real. It was dead. Their child was dead. He was… was dead. Padme died and so had the child. Palaptine had said so. Their baby was dead! He had lived for thirteen years thinking that… and he had been wrong?

Vader couldn't understand the happiness that overwhelmed him at this point. He was a father! Their child hadn't died! He… he hadn't killed it! His precious little baby had survived and… and he had _talked_ to him. He had _seen_ him… how could he not have known? He thought back and saw that the boy did resemble how he had looked at that age. The same hair, the same eyes… the build was definitely his mother's though.

He just couldn't believe it. He had a son! The word _"son"_ lingered on his lips… it sounded so good. Did he really have a son? A thirteen year old son? How could he have stayed ignorant of his existence for all this time?

Vader slammed his fist down on the computer. Sparks flew everywhere, igniting more of his anger. His son had been brought up as a foster child. What kind of life was _that?_ The boy hadn't been given half the things that he deserved. Being Vader's son he deserved so much more.

At this point, his thoughts collided and he had to stop thinking for a moment to avoid getting a headache. There was so much he wanted to learn; so much he wanted to know about his son. He should have been able to raise him; he should have been able to know his son inside and out. Every mood swing, every thought… he should know that.

Oh Force, he had a son!

There was so much he wanted to teach this son of his, so much his son needed to learn. Did the boy know his had a father? Did the boy think of himself as an orphan? What exactly _did_ his son think? Did he get enough attention? And what about respect? Did the boy receive enough of that? What were his son's dreams and aspirations? What did he think of himself?

Vader didn't know. He wanted to know so badly. Force, he wanted to _see_ him. He wanted to see him, to look at him, _really_ look at him know that he had the knowledge of the boy being his son.

Vader didn't know how, but he just felt so… together. So complete. This boy, his son, was the greatest achievement of his life. His greatest treasure. Vader still couldn't believe that he had actually helped in creating a life. In creating a person. Creating a droid was one thing, but a _person_. A child who had thoughts, who had dreams, who had needs and wants and _desires_. It was such a feeling to know that he had created this. Vader had taken so many people's lives, he just felt so wonderful to know that he had _created_ one.

He wanted to see him. Vader wanted to go to his son now and talk to him as his son. To know him as his son.

Where was he?

It struck him then that he didn't know where he was. Where was his son? Well _Vader_ didn't know… but Nelis did.

Reaching for his comlink, Vader typed in his trusted spy's frequency and waited impatiently for him to answer. It seemed like forever but in reality it only took three seconds.

"Nelis Ziatl at your service, my lord."

Vader nearly spoke before Nelis was finished speaking. "Where is the boy?"

"Milord?"

Vader grunted. Such a blunt question. "The boy I told you to get this information from, where is he?"

As soon as he had the name of the hospital, Vader turned off the comlink without giving an explanation. He was Second in Command of the Empire; he didn't need to give an explanation for what he did.

…

Vader didn't bother getting an escort or even a few stormtroopers to come with him. This was a personal matter and he didn't need extra people to worry about. He came to the hospital as quickly as he could. He was eager. The Dark Lord of the Sith would never admit that he was eager.

At the hospital, the attendant behind the administration desk did not hesitate at all to give him the room number for where the boy was staying in. Vader left her behind to stare after him, nervous and curious at the same time.

Five floors up, he found the door that the woman had named. Entering it, he found an operating room that he could tell the boy had been in not long ago.

_How did he end up here? What did he do? How did he get hurt?_

He went quickly through this room and found a little sitting room beyond it with a window that looked into a private hospital bedroom. Inside that room was his son.

Unfortunately, there were some people in the sitting room looking through the window watching the boy. It was Japhonan and Lizzian Marthio. They noticed him immediately and stood up.

"Lord Vader," Japhonan Marthio said in a surprised and questioning tone. He looked at Vader for a moment as if taking in the fact that he was actually there. He seemed to piece together a polite way to ask why Vader was there. Finally, he found the right words.

"Forgive me for asking, but might I ask what your business is here?"

Vader gestured slightly toward the window where he could see his son lying in the bed, staring at the ceiling. "Him."

Lizzian reacted harshly. She gasped and then asked urgently. "What did he do!?"

"He didn't do anything," Vader said. He was getting annoyed with these people. All he wanted to do was see his son. "I came to see him."

The politeness was gone from Japhonan now. All that was left was curiosity and protectiveness towards the boy. "Why do you want to see Luke?"

Right when Japhonan said that, Vader realized that up till now, he hadn't known his son's name. He hadn't even _thought_ of it.

_Luke…_ It was a pleasing name. There was a calming aura about it. Like a river on Naboo that runs smoothly with placid awareness. Vader smiled and approved of the name. Then he went on to answer Japhonan's question.

"That is not for you to know and you are not in the position to ask such questions." Vader began walking toward the bedroom door, but Japhonan, very boldly, blocked his path.

"But I _want_ to know."

Vader considered this. He could just push past this man, but then he would be hurting a man that his son possibly liked. He decided to do this the diplomat way.

_Padme's way_.

"I merely want to talk to him. Surely you do not think I would want to cause harm to a thirteen year old boy."

Vader didn't know if it was his words or something else that made Japhonan move. All he knew was that he _did_ move, and that was all Vader wanted. He walked past Japhonan and Lizzian who were both watching him warily. Once he was inside the bedroom, he closed the door but then realized it would do no good because there was still the window they could watch by. Vader looked through the window and discovered with some discomfort that the window was only for looking in, but not for looking out.

No matter. He walked towards the bed where the boy was still laying on the bed, but was now staring at him wide-eyed and fearful. Vader sat down on the chair next to the bed and did a quick survey of his son. He was a very handsome boy Vader observed, pleased. His hair was very blonde and he had his mother's nose. All in all, Vader couldn't be more proud than he was of the child he had created.

A whimper from the boy brought Vader out of his musings and made him focus on what he was going to say.

"Hello Luke."

Vader could see a flash of surprise that danced across the child's face when he heard Vader use his name. Apparently, he didn't expect him to know it.

It would have been better if he hadn't locked eyes with Luke. As soon as he did, any thought of what he was going to say next left him. Vader hated to loose control. He began searching, almost frantically, for the words that he had had in mind moments earlier. There were so many things he wanted to say. But how to say them? He had to do this gently or else he would run the risk of shocking him more than he could take and then…

Vader realized that he was letting himself freak out. This was his _son_ he was talking about. Vader _had_ to tell him. Luke probably wanted… needed… a father as much as Vader needed his son.

But how to tell him? Perhaps the obvious way would be best. Well he had to give it a try some time. Vader would never admit it, but he was a little anxious.

"Luke… I have something important that I want to tell you."

He could tell that Luke was curious. Despite his fear, he leaned slightly closer as if to ask Vader to go on.

In a last minute rush, Vader put everything together and began to explain. "A long time ago, I was a different man. I didn't wear this armor, I had a wife…"

Luke eyes went wide at that part. The message was obvious, _"What woman in her right mind would marry __**you**__?"_

"My wife, unfortunately, died… but not before our child was born." Here, Vader took a long pause. That pause seemed to drag on for eternity. Here came the big part. "That child was you."

Luke jumped up from his lying position on the bed and was now standing on his knees. "WHAT!?" Suddenly, Luke's face went pale and he grimaced at the pain that his sudden movement caused him. He fell limply back on the bed and grunted. "Oww…"

"Are you hurt?" Vader asked urgently.

…

Luke decided, promise or no promise, he didn't care who he was talking to, he _had_ to get this straightened out.

"You've mixed me up with some other kid," Luke said with firm certainty. "There's no possible way I could be… _anyone's_ son. I'm… I'm just a foster kid. My parents are dead, the only family I have are my aunt and uncle and they don't care about me. And _you_… you're not related to me in any way…"

"Yet I am," Vader said, matching the certainty in Luke's voice evenly.

Luke shook his head and gave an exasperated laugh. "What is _with_ you?"

"Would you like them to perform a DNA test to prove it?"

It was obvious that Luke thought Vader was mistaken. Otherwise, he wouldn't have wanted to see the results of such a test. Nevertheless, Luke nodded. "Yeah, sure whatever."

Vader called in the doctor and told him what he wanted him to do. The man's left eyebrow went up but he was wise enough to say nothing. He did the desired task and gave Vader the results that he had transferred from the computer onto a pad. Vader showed the pad to Luke. The doctor left the room at this point. He was already feeling very nervous.

At first Luke was just glancing over it, but then he did a double take and tore the pad from Vader's hands. He held the pad, his hands shaking as he read it over and over.

This couldn't be real. He didn't have a father! But according to this pad… oh screw the pad! He had only dreamed about this, it couldn't be really happening. It was too good to be true…

Yes, it was Vader but… a _father!_ This had to be some mean joke; there was no way something this good could happen to _Luke_. What was this!? Was Vader really his _father?_

The more he thought about it, the more he just couldn't seem to grasp what it meant. He had a _father!_ He wasn't an orphan!

Vader began getting worried when he saw Luke shake his head and begin to cry.

"What is it, my son?"

This caused more hysteria from Luke. Vader pulled his son's small frame toward him, and embraced him. This still didn't stop him from crying. At first, Vader was worried, thinking Luke was upset. But then he realized that the child was crying with joy and disbelief.

This carried on for a few more minutes. Luke cherishing and drinking in every second. Never in all his life did he ever think that he would be here, being embraced by his father. Vader didn't mind admitting that he too was overjoyed. It looked as if Luke was more than happy to accept him as his father.

…

Luke couldn't believe it. It seemed like his life was falling into place. He had a father! He really, truly belonged somewhere. He was actually a son to someone who _loved_ him. Maybe he wasn't worthless after all.

…

**The End**

…

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**A/N: Oh my gosh... (sniff) I can't believe it's over. I've grown so attached to this story you guys. Ahh… happy endings.**

**The Epilogue is coming soon. It will explain what happens to Japhonan and Lizzian and it will tie up any other loose ends that I've probably left behind.**

**Please review! Seven reviews at least before the epilogue.**


	14. Epilogue

**A/N: Well here it is: the epilogue that wraps up this story of mine. Sorry to anyone who thought the story or the ending was a bit rushed but that's how and where I planned it to end before I even started writing. I hope this is satisfactory to those of you who want to know what happens with all the characters and the galaxy. By the way, what did you think of my OCs? Namely: Japhonan, Lizzian, and Benro.**

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**Epilogue**

From that day forward, things began changing for the better. It wasn't easy for them at first. Vader had to tell the Emperor about everything that was going on and he soon wished he hadn't. Emperor Palpatine wanted immediately to start training Luke into a sith apprentice for himself. Vader refused and had to flee with Luke across the galaxy.

This was all like a dream come true for Luke to be able to explore the galaxy with his father. It was what he had always longed to do and now that longing was satisfied.

Luke kept in contact with Japhonan and Lizzian. They always wanted to know where he was and how he and his father were doing.

Japhonan and Lizzian soon learned that there was nothing they could do to save what was left of the Old Republic and they joined the Rebel Alliance that their friend Mon Mothma helped start.

When Luke heard what Japhonan and Lizzian did, he insisted that he and his father join as well. Vader at first out right refused, but after a few months of begging Luke finally got him to come around.

The Rebellion knew of Vader's treachery to the Empire and it was because of that that they finally allowed him to join. But they said Vader couldn't carry his terrifying Imperial image along with him into the Alliance. That is when they got some physicians to see what was wrong with him and why he had to wear the mask. It was a simple injury of damaged lungs. They fixed this with a simple surgery and Vader (now Anakin Skywalker) could finally shed his armor. After a few months of being armor-free, his hair grew back and he looked more like his old self again except for some permanent scares that Anakin said he could deal with.

It was about a year later (Luke was now fifteen) that the Rebellion got another great addition to their Alliance: Obi-Wan Kenobi. Obi-Wan had left Tatooine in search of Luke and when he learned that he, along with his father, had joined the Rebellion he was more than enthusiastic to join himself.

Two years later (when Luke was seventeen) Princess Leia Organa officially joined the Rebel Alliance as well. Luke and Leia became very good friends. That was when Obi-Wan revealed to Anakin Leia was Luke's twin. This came as a shock to all the Skywalkers but they all accepted each other happily. This was all wonderful for Anakin who finally felt that the family he thought had been lost may not have been so lost after all.

When Luke and Leia were eighteen, the Death Star was nearing its stages of completion. Anakin already knew of this project and told the Alliance members all he knew about it. With Obi-Wan and Anakin's help, they put together a team to get the Death Star plans out of the Empire's hands. Unfortunately, during a battle Luke, Obi-Wan and Anakin crashed on Tatooine. Leia had been captured by the Empire and the Death Star plans were in Artoo.

Hiring a pilot, Han Solo, with his copilot Chewbacca, they were able to get of Tatooine, rescue Leia and get the plans back to the Alliance. Han, who had developed a fast friendship with Luke (and a slight attraction to Leia) decided to stay with the Alliance for a while.

As soon as the Death Star was destroyed, Anakin knew that the Empire would try to build another. For this reason, he led a group of spies to secretly steal a copy of the plans for this new battle station. They destroyed it hardly before it had been started. Lucky for them, the Emperor had been on a ship nearby at that point because he had wanted to see the first parts of the Death Star go up. With the entire Rebel Alliance fleet there, they destroyed the enemy Imperial fleet along with Palpatine.

The galaxy had once again been set right. Mon Mothma, Leia, Japhonan and Lizzian were the key members who helped the New Republic emerge from the ashes of the Empire. Anakin, Obi-Wan, Luke, and Yoda who came out of hiding, built up the old Jedi Temple and started the new Jedi Order.

Luke and Leia were nineteen now and they had their whole lives to enjoy the peace and prosperity of the Republic.

**The End**

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**A/N: In case you're wondering why Luke and Leia are only nineteen at the end, I'll explain. See, Anakin knew about the Death Star II as soon as the first one was destroyed and this was a little bit after Luke and Leia turned eighteen. So they directly went on to plans of destroying the new one. So it was only a few months after the first Death Star's destruction that the entire Empire was destroyed. So Luke and Leia would be around nineteen by the time the New Republic became official.**

**By the way, the Ssi-ruuk, the ****Yuuzhan**** Vong,** **Admiral Thrawn, Isolder, C'baoth, Dathomir and any other threats and "remnents of the Empire" that the EU weirdos came up with never happens. The New Republic exists peacefully for years and years. That's how George Lucas intended it, and that's how I like it. Oh, and by the way, Palpatine was never secretly training an apprentice called Mara Jade. Mara Jade doesn't exist and neither does Callista. Therefore Luke can marry whoever he wants and not have any dumb writer come up with wife for him. I think Luke is old enough to make his own decision. **

**And Jacen never becomes evil or whatever. Jaina never gets serious and boring, and Anakin Solo never dies and neither does Chewbacca. Because they all live happily ever after and there's no civil wars and all that! Because Star Wars isn't just a bunch of wars. The Solo kids grow up and live happily ever after too. Oh, and Luke never gets serious and boring either. He learns from watching Anakin and Obi-Wan that Jedi don't have to be serious. They can also have fun.**

**Please review! I hope you enjoyed the story!**


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